So it's pretty clear that I am not living with Chris anymore. I found a flat on Tuesday, went in for a viewing, everything worked out, and I moved in on Saturday. I now live with 2 girls: Valentina, from Italy, and Dannyelle, from Australia. Dannyelle is actually moving on Friday, and another Aussie is moving in. This new girl, Zoe is pretty cool; she came look at the flat on Sunday, and we all went to a pub nearby to hang out for a bit. And today, she called to let us know that she will be taking the place. Yay!
Alright, so I'm living a bit farther away from the Temple Bar, and it takes me 40 minutes to walk to work, but it really is a cute apartment. A cute dusty apartment. I've been living here 3 days, and I REALLY need to invest in a little vacuum cleaner. I am dying from allergies!
Ehmmm... I'm getting a bit sidetracked right now.... I'll finish posting later.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Rain and Docklands
It's been raining every single day for the past week now. Frankly, I'm tired of it.
Working at Dublin Docklands now, it's pretty good. I'm definitely less social here than at Canon. I'm all social-ed out. Two good things about the Dublin Docklands: 1) It's closer, so I can walk to work, and that saves me money. 2) Lunch is provided! And that saves me money and I have one less meal to worry about! Their lunches are actually great! Yesterday, I went in the office and the first thing I did was to get a coffee and fill out this form where I select what kind of sandwich I want and what stuff I want in it. It was wicked! And by lunchtime, I got my customized sandwich waiting there for me. Haha! And today I got a full hot meal. Omg, it's amazzzziiiing. I love getting free food. The work sucked though, but at least I wasn't bored.
Anyway, Susan (the landlord woman) is really a __________ (enter cuss word of preference). Seriously, she is such a lying, sneaky, horrible __________ (enter cuss word again). I am really glad I'm getting out of here tomorrow.
Anyway, I gotta finish packing.
Working at Dublin Docklands now, it's pretty good. I'm definitely less social here than at Canon. I'm all social-ed out. Two good things about the Dublin Docklands: 1) It's closer, so I can walk to work, and that saves me money. 2) Lunch is provided! And that saves me money and I have one less meal to worry about! Their lunches are actually great! Yesterday, I went in the office and the first thing I did was to get a coffee and fill out this form where I select what kind of sandwich I want and what stuff I want in it. It was wicked! And by lunchtime, I got my customized sandwich waiting there for me. Haha! And today I got a full hot meal. Omg, it's amazzzziiiing. I love getting free food. The work sucked though, but at least I wasn't bored.
Anyway, Susan (the landlord woman) is really a __________ (enter cuss word of preference). Seriously, she is such a lying, sneaky, horrible __________ (enter cuss word again). I am really glad I'm getting out of here tomorrow.
Anyway, I gotta finish packing.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
1 Month
Another successful week at work is over, and I'm done at Canon by next Tuesday. Yesterday, I realized I've been in Ireland a full month! Hard to believe, but tis true. Time has passed quickly, and reading all my old posts brought back mems of that horrible first week, ha! Things are much better now, mainly because I know a lot more people now! It has truly been an adventure-packed month.
I gotta move out of my flat now by the 23rd, so all week I've been trying to find other flats in the area. I think I'm gonna move in with Chris, a guy I met through SWAP, and some BUNAC kids (April and Jon) but only if I can find a 4 bedroom apt. Finding places to live as a group is really hard; it's a lot easier for individuals. Chris and I agreed that we'll give each other until Wednesday to find a place together, otherwise we'll split up and try to live as close to each other as we can. I was going to view a house in Swords (an area in Dublin) today for us, but neither Jon nor April wanted to live that far, and I wasn't willing to split 1100EU between just Chris and I, so I called the landlord woman this morning to cancel the viewing. We'll keep looking for places, but honestly, I've checked out a bunch of places on my own. I feel bad ditching Chris, but it's hard when my budget is so tight, and his isn't. We'll see.
Anyway, I'm gonna keep this entry short, I have to go shopping for some clothes. The washing machine here sucks and effed up my last wash, so now I have to get some new stuff. Gah. I'm gonna also check out the Street Performers Championships, happening at Merrion Square this weekend. Should be a good time.
PS... back to the bad weather.
I gotta move out of my flat now by the 23rd, so all week I've been trying to find other flats in the area. I think I'm gonna move in with Chris, a guy I met through SWAP, and some BUNAC kids (April and Jon) but only if I can find a 4 bedroom apt. Finding places to live as a group is really hard; it's a lot easier for individuals. Chris and I agreed that we'll give each other until Wednesday to find a place together, otherwise we'll split up and try to live as close to each other as we can. I was going to view a house in Swords (an area in Dublin) today for us, but neither Jon nor April wanted to live that far, and I wasn't willing to split 1100EU between just Chris and I, so I called the landlord woman this morning to cancel the viewing. We'll keep looking for places, but honestly, I've checked out a bunch of places on my own. I feel bad ditching Chris, but it's hard when my budget is so tight, and his isn't. We'll see.
Anyway, I'm gonna keep this entry short, I have to go shopping for some clothes. The washing machine here sucks and effed up my last wash, so now I have to get some new stuff. Gah. I'm gonna also check out the Street Performers Championships, happening at Merrion Square this weekend. Should be a good time.
PS... back to the bad weather.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Bray and Killiney Beach
The weekend was fun.
Friday night, we had a girls' night at Emily's place, since Pete and Ryan went to London. Well.... girls' night plus Jon, haha. I am pretty sure he had fun though. Ate lots of pizza, and played Never Have I Ever. Haha... the best get-to-know-you game ever!
Saturday, I did nothing productive. Got up around 12:30, bummed around the house (uploaded all those photos from the bank holiday). By about 3pm, Julien (a French guy I met through some parties of my old flatmate Katia) called me and told me about going to Fitzsimons' and hanging out, and that Daniela is going too. So yea, I went, and it was a good time. After Fitzsimons, we went and bought some food and basically hung out on the lawn Trinity College. There were loads of people there, just hanging out, it was great. It was such a beautiful day for it too. That night I went to a patio party at one of Julien's friend's place. It was pretty cool, I met a bunch of Italians, haha.
(Chillin on the football pitch)
(Me and Daniela)
(Chillin on the streets)
So yesterday, even though no one took up the offer to to go Bray, I went anyway, because I really wanted to climb Bray Head. Bray is a town about 1 hour's train ride south of Dublin. I'm not really sure how many kms it is though.
(The race against time! Running to catch the DART)
Anyway... Bray was a pretty nice little town, lots of tourists. There are some hills there, for trekkers. I guess the most popular thing people do in Bray is to climb the Bray Head, which is a big hill with a cross at the top. People climb to the top to reach the cross, and the view up there is supposed to be very nice. So I climbed it, and it took me about 1.5 hours. It was a real workout, going up. There were no paved paths or anything, so I was going over bushes, stones, boulders, and branches. It was cool though. Actually... it was hot. Haha (I can just picture Fran rolling her eyes as she reads this haha!)
(The beach at Bray)
(See the cross at the very tip of that big hill? That's the destination of the day)
(Somewhere in the middle)
(Close!)
(Closer! Almost there!)
Anyway, I finally reached the top, and met a nerdy Irish guy along the way. We had pretty cool convos. He got to the top before I did, because I took so many breaks in between. The view at the top was pretty spectacular: more hills and LAND on my left, the whole town laid out in front, and the ocean on my right. After hanging out around there for a while, I climbed to the other adjacent hills, which were actually more treacherous because while there was some sort of path to get to the main hill, there was nothing that led to the other ones. It was basically all rock climbing and going through pine bushes. It was actually kinda scary. Once I got to the top though, it was grand. :) Hung around the other hill for a bit and had a cool convos with the Irish nerd. I thought he was writing in his journal up there by himself, but no, he was apparently reading some computer textbook, getting ready for an exam. (?!?! some things I'll never understand...)
(Made it! The view from the top!)
(Me at the cross)
(More hills)
(My nerdy friend of the day)
Anyway, after hanging out on the hill for a while, I headed back down, got back on the DART,and met up with my cool USIT friends at Killiney Beach. The beach was littered with people, it was pretty awesome. We just hung out there, talking and such. I went wading in the ocean, and the water was effing cold! At one point, we saw this man walking by, it was SOOOOO funny! He looked like he's been walking for days!! He was seriously dirty and in desperate need of a shave. I call him the Lonely Traveler. It's weird, because I took lots of great scenic photos, but I think the photo I took of the Lonely Traveler was my favourite one that day. :) :)
(Clockwise from left: Suzi, Emily, April, Jon, and Joie)
(Wading in the ocean!)
(I love macro-ing everything!)
(Love how Jon's shirt perfectly matches the soccer ball)
(THE LONELY TRAVELER!!!!!)
(Pete and I waiting for the DART back to Dublin)
Friday night, we had a girls' night at Emily's place, since Pete and Ryan went to London. Well.... girls' night plus Jon, haha. I am pretty sure he had fun though. Ate lots of pizza, and played Never Have I Ever. Haha... the best get-to-know-you game ever!
Saturday, I did nothing productive. Got up around 12:30, bummed around the house (uploaded all those photos from the bank holiday). By about 3pm, Julien (a French guy I met through some parties of my old flatmate Katia) called me and told me about going to Fitzsimons' and hanging out, and that Daniela is going too. So yea, I went, and it was a good time. After Fitzsimons, we went and bought some food and basically hung out on the lawn Trinity College. There were loads of people there, just hanging out, it was great. It was such a beautiful day for it too. That night I went to a patio party at one of Julien's friend's place. It was pretty cool, I met a bunch of Italians, haha.
(Chillin on the football pitch)
(Me and Daniela)
(Chillin on the streets)
So yesterday, even though no one took up the offer to to go Bray, I went anyway, because I really wanted to climb Bray Head. Bray is a town about 1 hour's train ride south of Dublin. I'm not really sure how many kms it is though.
(The race against time! Running to catch the DART)
Anyway... Bray was a pretty nice little town, lots of tourists. There are some hills there, for trekkers. I guess the most popular thing people do in Bray is to climb the Bray Head, which is a big hill with a cross at the top. People climb to the top to reach the cross, and the view up there is supposed to be very nice. So I climbed it, and it took me about 1.5 hours. It was a real workout, going up. There were no paved paths or anything, so I was going over bushes, stones, boulders, and branches. It was cool though. Actually... it was hot. Haha (I can just picture Fran rolling her eyes as she reads this haha!)
(The beach at Bray)
(See the cross at the very tip of that big hill? That's the destination of the day)
(Somewhere in the middle)
(Close!)
(Closer! Almost there!)
Anyway, I finally reached the top, and met a nerdy Irish guy along the way. We had pretty cool convos. He got to the top before I did, because I took so many breaks in between. The view at the top was pretty spectacular: more hills and LAND on my left, the whole town laid out in front, and the ocean on my right. After hanging out around there for a while, I climbed to the other adjacent hills, which were actually more treacherous because while there was some sort of path to get to the main hill, there was nothing that led to the other ones. It was basically all rock climbing and going through pine bushes. It was actually kinda scary. Once I got to the top though, it was grand. :) Hung around the other hill for a bit and had a cool convos with the Irish nerd. I thought he was writing in his journal up there by himself, but no, he was apparently reading some computer textbook, getting ready for an exam. (?!?! some things I'll never understand...)
(Made it! The view from the top!)
(Me at the cross)
(More hills)
(My nerdy friend of the day)
Anyway, after hanging out on the hill for a while, I headed back down, got back on the DART,and met up with my cool USIT friends at Killiney Beach. The beach was littered with people, it was pretty awesome. We just hung out there, talking and such. I went wading in the ocean, and the water was effing cold! At one point, we saw this man walking by, it was SOOOOO funny! He looked like he's been walking for days!! He was seriously dirty and in desperate need of a shave. I call him the Lonely Traveler. It's weird, because I took lots of great scenic photos, but I think the photo I took of the Lonely Traveler was my favourite one that day. :) :)
(Clockwise from left: Suzi, Emily, April, Jon, and Joie)
(Wading in the ocean!)
(I love macro-ing everything!)
(Love how Jon's shirt perfectly matches the soccer ball)
(THE LONELY TRAVELER!!!!!)
(Pete and I waiting for the DART back to Dublin)
Friday, June 8, 2007
Workkk
I am sitting here at my lovely huge desk, basically waiting til 5:30pm so I can leave! It is currently 5:15pm on a Friday, and most of the people are gone. Bah. I am sooooo boooorrreeeedddd...
This week has gone by pretty quickly. Despite the fact that I'm more often bored than acutally working, I don't really mind, because the people here are pretty awesome. Rhoda's the Services Support woman, and she is probably the best help around anyone can ever ask for! She covers for me when I go on breaks and lunch, and she's (almost) always there when I'm stuck with something, or don't know what to do. Another cool guy I met is Sean. He works in telesales. I started talking to him 3 days ago while I was heading home on the Luas. He walked me to the lights, even though he lives in the opposite direction! Aww... and yesterday, he took the Luas into the city with me, since he had to run some errands. It was fun, chatting up with him and just hanging out, but not during work.
Anywhoo... I'm excited for the weekend! Tonight, I'll be going to Emily's place for Girls' Night hahaha... Saturday, probably meeting up with Chris, then Sunday to Bray. I'll keep you all updated, but now I'm getting outta here! Toodles!
~~~
PS: Pics from the Bank Holiday are up now!!
This week has gone by pretty quickly. Despite the fact that I'm more often bored than acutally working, I don't really mind, because the people here are pretty awesome. Rhoda's the Services Support woman, and she is probably the best help around anyone can ever ask for! She covers for me when I go on breaks and lunch, and she's (almost) always there when I'm stuck with something, or don't know what to do. Another cool guy I met is Sean. He works in telesales. I started talking to him 3 days ago while I was heading home on the Luas. He walked me to the lights, even though he lives in the opposite direction! Aww... and yesterday, he took the Luas into the city with me, since he had to run some errands. It was fun, chatting up with him and just hanging out, but not during work.
Anywhoo... I'm excited for the weekend! Tonight, I'll be going to Emily's place for Girls' Night hahaha... Saturday, probably meeting up with Chris, then Sunday to Bray. I'll keep you all updated, but now I'm getting outta here! Toodles!
~~~
PS: Pics from the Bank Holiday are up now!!
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Bank Holiday
I know it's already Wednesday and I haven't posted in a while. I am currently at work. Why am I online, you say? Well... it's only because I am sooo bored here! Seriously, I just sit here (by myself!) wait for the phone to ring, and wait for some emails. And then I answer them. And drink my coffee. :) Haha... but the people are great here, so it's okay. :)
Anywhoo... so this past weekend was a bank holiday weekend here in Ireland, which meant most businesses were not in operation on Monday. A group of 9 of us, who met from Orientation and the Social decided to go on a trip to Galway. Not much planning was involved, it was pretty last minute, but it was perhaps one of the best weekends I have ever had! 5 of us took the early 8am bus, and the ride was about 3.5 hours. Got there, grabbed a bite to eat, and met up with the other 4 people, who got on a later bus.
(Galway in Irish/Gaelic)
From there, we actually rented a 9-person van and drove to the Cliffs of Moher. Now, none of us actually had any sound experience driving stick, let alone on the wrong side of the road, shifting with the left hand, and on unfamiliar and very narrow terrain. So you can imagine our stress levels were quite high at the beginning.
(Emily with our sexy 9-seater)
The drive to the Cliffs was about 2 hours, and we made a couple stops along the way. Passed by the Dungaire Castle, and took a small tour. It was super neat-- and caters nightly medieval dinners for a price of 50 euros. It's kinda like Medieval Times, in Toronto, where you get dinner and show, but here, it's in a real castle. We walked up the narrow winding staircase to the top, which overlooked the Irish country-side. It was sooo beautiful and lushy green. It was really neat.
(In the dining room)
(Another castle we found. This one was abandoned, and was private property)
After spending pretty much an hour there, we drove on, to the Cliffs. The most unfortunate thing about that day was the weather. It was rainy and foggy. But actually, it was okay, because it gave the Cliffs and the landscape a sense of mysteriousness. We finally got to the Cliffs of Moher, and the sight was just incredible!! It was seriously such a rush, to stand on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. I don't even know how to put the experience into words, but standing at the edge looking out to the cliffs and the ocean kinda felt like the world was opening up its arms to you, and you feel sooo tiny in comparison (well... because you are). The whole experience was pretty overwhelming, for the fact that there were no railings or barriers whatsoever. One could really fall off and die, if they wanted to. But because there were no barriers, that made the whole view all the better! I really want to go back, on a sunny day though. Maybe another weekend...
(I did not actually lean over to take this... it was too scary! I just reached my arm out)
(Look how close we were to the edge!)
(I love this photo I took of Ryan... just shows how huge this place was)
(A castle near the Cliffs)
On the way back, we made a pit stop by some rocks by the coast. It was kind of a spur of the moment idea, but I'm really glad we did; it was fun running around on the rocks and taking more pictures with the ocean!
(I love the coast!)
(Exploring the rocks)
The next day, we took a bus and ferry to the Aran Islands. The weather that day was perfect-- sunny skies all day, warm, and not a single drop of rain. The ferry ride took about 45 minutes. It reminded me of taking the ferry to Center Island, haha.
(Before getting on the ferry)
(Before exploring, we got coffee and scones!)
While Pete, Ryan, Emily, Jon, and Justin rented bikes to go cycling around the island, April, Suzi, Kathleen, and myself decided on taking a van tour, and that was a very good idea, especially when we met up with the bikers at the end of the day and finding out they all got sunburnt and was super tired. Haha. The van tour took a couple of hours, and made some stops at decent locations.
(Regular house and a LEPRECHAUN house!!)
(Posers... haha)
(Leprechaun neighbours!!)
One of the stops was at a small village type area, with lots of tourists and kids playing very impressive Irish music. From there, we trekked (about 20 minutes) to a fort which led to another cliff overlooking the ocean again. Since the weather was perfect, we all decided to sit at the edge. It was so exhilarating! I wanted to sit at the edge at the Cliffs of Moher, but it was all wet and slippery, so I was really glad I got to sit on some kind of cliff!
(One of my favourite photos taken that weekend! Looking westward towards home...)
(Me and Kathleens shoes)
(Looks like we're sitting by a pool!)
(I swear, I'm not falling off!)
(Love this photo as well!)
(The fort that I never got to visit, because I spent so much time by the cliffs)
After the fort, we went back on the van, and pretty much finished the tour. It was pretty good timing. We still had about an hour before meeting up with the rest of the group, so we went to get some frozen treats and sat by the docks and soaked up the sun. It was grand.
Our plans for cooking dinner at the hostel that evening never happened though, because by the time we got back, we were all so tired. Pete left for the bus back, since he had to work the next day. We ended up just going to a pub and ordering food and beverages there instead.
(Ryan and Justin... sun burnt from biking the whole afternoon)
(April and Emily. Guess who took the van, and who biked?)
That night, we went to another pub to listen to live music. There was this little old man there dancing around, and he was honestly the cutest old man there! Haha! Suzi and I were saying how he must've gotten all the girls back in the day. Haha!
The next day, Monday, our group separated again, since some of us wanted to visit Connemara and some wanted to just walk around Galway city and head home early. I went to Connemara. The bus ride there kinda sucked; I kept dozing off. We made a couple of stops by streams, a tiny village, and Ireland's only fjord. Haha... I read that in a brochure somewhere. "Ireland's only Fjord!!" Hahaa... anyway... it was a pretty nice fjord. It just looks like a lake. Surrounded by mountains. Well.... I suppose that is what a fjord is.
We had to cough up another 7 euros to visit a garden, a little gothic cathedral, and a Benedictine abbey. And pay for lunch. So... overall, the day was pretty pricey. But you can't put a price tag on memories! :) The time we got walking between the cathedral, gardens, and abbey was really nice. Along the water, we got to hang out a bit, skip stones, stare off into the distance, and just enjoy the sunshine.
After Connemara, we just cooked some lovely pasta at the hostel, chatted it up a bit with a cool Aussie, then headed back to Dublin! One thing I noticed... I guess I am really starting to get used to living here. When I got off the bus, I was pretty happy, it actually felt like home! Like I'm back in a familiar place! It was really nice; last time I had that feeling was when I got back to Waterloo after spending 2 weeks in Toronto. It's a good feeling though :) As much as I loved every minute of the weekend, it felt good to be back in the city, surrounded by PEOPLE, and not sheep and cows (although I still love sheep and cows)!
~~~
Anyway... today (Thursday) is a better day at work. Not like yesterday, holy crap. T'was quite stressful! Anyway, yesterday I got to hung out and chat a bit with this guy from work, Paul Stafford. Well, he just walked by me and:
Me: Hey!
Paul: Hey Mandy, how are ya?
Me: Good, and you?
Paul: Oh, I'm so hungover!
Me: Hahaa Ohmygod!
Paul: Yeah.... you know ____? (some bar, I forgot the name)
Me: Nope.
Paul: Well, yeah a bunch of us went there for a party..... (trails off)
Me: Haha that's hilarious...
So.... I guess only in Ireland will a co-worker randomly admit that he is hungover from going to a huge party the night before. Hahahah I love Ireland!
Anywhoo... so this past weekend was a bank holiday weekend here in Ireland, which meant most businesses were not in operation on Monday. A group of 9 of us, who met from Orientation and the Social decided to go on a trip to Galway. Not much planning was involved, it was pretty last minute, but it was perhaps one of the best weekends I have ever had! 5 of us took the early 8am bus, and the ride was about 3.5 hours. Got there, grabbed a bite to eat, and met up with the other 4 people, who got on a later bus.
(Galway in Irish/Gaelic)
From there, we actually rented a 9-person van and drove to the Cliffs of Moher. Now, none of us actually had any sound experience driving stick, let alone on the wrong side of the road, shifting with the left hand, and on unfamiliar and very narrow terrain. So you can imagine our stress levels were quite high at the beginning.
(Emily with our sexy 9-seater)
The drive to the Cliffs was about 2 hours, and we made a couple stops along the way. Passed by the Dungaire Castle, and took a small tour. It was super neat-- and caters nightly medieval dinners for a price of 50 euros. It's kinda like Medieval Times, in Toronto, where you get dinner and show, but here, it's in a real castle. We walked up the narrow winding staircase to the top, which overlooked the Irish country-side. It was sooo beautiful and lushy green. It was really neat.
(In the dining room)
(Another castle we found. This one was abandoned, and was private property)
After spending pretty much an hour there, we drove on, to the Cliffs. The most unfortunate thing about that day was the weather. It was rainy and foggy. But actually, it was okay, because it gave the Cliffs and the landscape a sense of mysteriousness. We finally got to the Cliffs of Moher, and the sight was just incredible!! It was seriously such a rush, to stand on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. I don't even know how to put the experience into words, but standing at the edge looking out to the cliffs and the ocean kinda felt like the world was opening up its arms to you, and you feel sooo tiny in comparison (well... because you are). The whole experience was pretty overwhelming, for the fact that there were no railings or barriers whatsoever. One could really fall off and die, if they wanted to. But because there were no barriers, that made the whole view all the better! I really want to go back, on a sunny day though. Maybe another weekend...
(I did not actually lean over to take this... it was too scary! I just reached my arm out)
(Look how close we were to the edge!)
(I love this photo I took of Ryan... just shows how huge this place was)
(A castle near the Cliffs)
On the way back, we made a pit stop by some rocks by the coast. It was kind of a spur of the moment idea, but I'm really glad we did; it was fun running around on the rocks and taking more pictures with the ocean!
(I love the coast!)
(Exploring the rocks)
The next day, we took a bus and ferry to the Aran Islands. The weather that day was perfect-- sunny skies all day, warm, and not a single drop of rain. The ferry ride took about 45 minutes. It reminded me of taking the ferry to Center Island, haha.
(Before getting on the ferry)
(Before exploring, we got coffee and scones!)
While Pete, Ryan, Emily, Jon, and Justin rented bikes to go cycling around the island, April, Suzi, Kathleen, and myself decided on taking a van tour, and that was a very good idea, especially when we met up with the bikers at the end of the day and finding out they all got sunburnt and was super tired. Haha. The van tour took a couple of hours, and made some stops at decent locations.
(Regular house and a LEPRECHAUN house!!)
(Posers... haha)
(Leprechaun neighbours!!)
One of the stops was at a small village type area, with lots of tourists and kids playing very impressive Irish music. From there, we trekked (about 20 minutes) to a fort which led to another cliff overlooking the ocean again. Since the weather was perfect, we all decided to sit at the edge. It was so exhilarating! I wanted to sit at the edge at the Cliffs of Moher, but it was all wet and slippery, so I was really glad I got to sit on some kind of cliff!
(One of my favourite photos taken that weekend! Looking westward towards home...)
(Me and Kathleens shoes)
(Looks like we're sitting by a pool!)
(I swear, I'm not falling off!)
(Love this photo as well!)
(The fort that I never got to visit, because I spent so much time by the cliffs)
After the fort, we went back on the van, and pretty much finished the tour. It was pretty good timing. We still had about an hour before meeting up with the rest of the group, so we went to get some frozen treats and sat by the docks and soaked up the sun. It was grand.
Our plans for cooking dinner at the hostel that evening never happened though, because by the time we got back, we were all so tired. Pete left for the bus back, since he had to work the next day. We ended up just going to a pub and ordering food and beverages there instead.
(Ryan and Justin... sun burnt from biking the whole afternoon)
(April and Emily. Guess who took the van, and who biked?)
That night, we went to another pub to listen to live music. There was this little old man there dancing around, and he was honestly the cutest old man there! Haha! Suzi and I were saying how he must've gotten all the girls back in the day. Haha!
The next day, Monday, our group separated again, since some of us wanted to visit Connemara and some wanted to just walk around Galway city and head home early. I went to Connemara. The bus ride there kinda sucked; I kept dozing off. We made a couple of stops by streams, a tiny village, and Ireland's only fjord. Haha... I read that in a brochure somewhere. "Ireland's only Fjord!!" Hahaa... anyway... it was a pretty nice fjord. It just looks like a lake. Surrounded by mountains. Well.... I suppose that is what a fjord is.
We had to cough up another 7 euros to visit a garden, a little gothic cathedral, and a Benedictine abbey. And pay for lunch. So... overall, the day was pretty pricey. But you can't put a price tag on memories! :) The time we got walking between the cathedral, gardens, and abbey was really nice. Along the water, we got to hang out a bit, skip stones, stare off into the distance, and just enjoy the sunshine.
After Connemara, we just cooked some lovely pasta at the hostel, chatted it up a bit with a cool Aussie, then headed back to Dublin! One thing I noticed... I guess I am really starting to get used to living here. When I got off the bus, I was pretty happy, it actually felt like home! Like I'm back in a familiar place! It was really nice; last time I had that feeling was when I got back to Waterloo after spending 2 weeks in Toronto. It's a good feeling though :) As much as I loved every minute of the weekend, it felt good to be back in the city, surrounded by PEOPLE, and not sheep and cows (although I still love sheep and cows)!
~~~
Anyway... today (Thursday) is a better day at work. Not like yesterday, holy crap. T'was quite stressful! Anyway, yesterday I got to hung out and chat a bit with this guy from work, Paul Stafford. Well, he just walked by me and:
Me: Hey!
Paul: Hey Mandy, how are ya?
Me: Good, and you?
Paul: Oh, I'm so hungover!
Me: Hahaa Ohmygod!
Paul: Yeah.... you know ____? (some bar, I forgot the name)
Me: Nope.
Paul: Well, yeah a bunch of us went there for a party..... (trails off)
Me: Haha that's hilarious...
So.... I guess only in Ireland will a co-worker randomly admit that he is hungover from going to a huge party the night before. Hahahah I love Ireland!
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